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Just wanted to share my experience of GMAT. Gave the test on 23/10/2013, Delhi, India. It was my first attempt and got a decent enough score to not give it again.

My profile:

1. Engg + MBA combine

2. 3+ years of work experience

3. Looking for PhD in Management

I prepared for around 1.5 months dedicated on GMAT. Around 6 hours a day for 5 days a week approx. Resources I used:

1. MGMAT - all 10 books of the series. From general search as well from this forum, understood that it is one of the best resource for prep. Took my own time but I feel the foundations are built very well from these books. And more so for people like me who are out of studies for a long time. My recommendation - go through all of them. These books are really helpful.

2. PowerScore Verbal bible - Since my verbal was weakest of the lot, had to put in more effort and hence this book. It is an amazing book. To the point and up to the mark. Brief enough to cover the topic as well as provide lots of tit-bits to become better at verbal.

3. OG 13 - As everyone says on GMAT Club, this is one resource no one should miss. Make sure to do every question. My funda - I did all the questions under timed conditions. Never did I do any ques from this book without my timer up. Easier ques: under 1 min, medium: under 1.5 min, hard: under 2 mins. Keep the targets and stick to them. It helps in pacing which is a crucial element on GMAT

4. GMATPrep - Use it wisely. I did all the 90 ques on it. The two tests I gave in the last week itself. 720 on first and 740 on second.

One section I dreaded was IR. Though how it will be used is still unclear, my scores on this section were extremely poor. It says 12 questions in 30 minutes, but every question has lots of sub-questions and in all it becomes approx 30 ques in 30 minutes. And well, it is not easy for anyone who is already struggling on time front. My advice - just do lots of questions. From official GMAT to GMAT Pill practice platform or any other resource you get. Get used to this section. It requires much less effort if you have done various forms of questions that may appear here. I got 8 and for me it was unbelievable.

Most important suggestion I can give everyone here is to practice under timed conditions - ALWAYS. And give as many practice tests as possible. It helps in building up stamina. The first test I gave, I could barely finish 30 ques in quant and verbal each. But as I took more tests, I build up enough stamina and strategy to complete before time. Still on the test day, struggled on Quant and didn't even see the last question since I had only 20 seconds left. Just marked and moved on.

Tip for test day: Remember, the test is adaptive so you are bound to get some questions wrong. I knew at least 3-4 questions in quant I had no clue how to do. Still got 50. So relax. If you are unable to do a question, just make a guess and move on. You are bound to get a question you will be able to solve.

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29 Oct 2013, 14:44

Congratulations! Can you share your scores on different tests and how frequently did you take the tests? For both quant and verbal which tests were more reflective of the real GMAT in terms of pattern and difficulty?

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01 Nov 2013, 01:09

nextStep wrote:

Congratulations! Can you share your scores on different tests and how frequently did you take the tests? For both quant and verbal which tests were more reflective of the real GMAT in terms of pattern and difficulty?

I don't have the full list now. Will try to gather since I gave many tests without a long plan or something.

I feel that Quant which comes in the actual exam is a little tough than many tests available, but MGMAT and Kaplan had good levels.

And I feel that the actual GMAT Prep is closest to actual scores since most of the other tests available are a little harsh in scoring. I didn't even cross 700 in most of the tests I gave and still got 720 in the actual test. So, don't feel disheartened if you get less scores in these mock tests. Use them to build up stamina and speed.